Scion – Petro Campaign – Session 50
This account was originally found on Livejournal, I am not the original author—I am just a fan of the journal and have found reading it on livejournal clunky to navigate and rife with errors/instability (such as having to refresh multiple times due to the page in questions becoming unavailable often requiring multiple refreshes. The original post can be found here, published by DJ-Yomi, and was published on May 1st 2009
We killed our first titan! Woohoo! ^___^ Pika Don is dead and we aren’t even any worse for the wear! I mean, sure, it wasn’t easy, and some of us almost died at one point or another during this whole quest (I know T-Bone, Adam, Pierre and I were all pretty close to getting wiped out at one point or another during this saga), but we succeeded, and that’s what counts, right?
So anyway, after purifying Miko and the bomb and clearing out the titanspawn on Hashima island, we all gathered in Hiroshima with both of Pika Don’s eyes and the Orb of Chaos. In Hiroshima’s Memorial Park (with an audience of curious onlookers), I performed a ritual to open a gate into Pika Don’s realm. These horrible little radiation spiders jumped out and attacked us, but they were easy to knock off. They were quick, but even I could pop them just by willing them to die with my powers over life and death. And I didn’t feel a hint of guilt about it. Spiders are supposed to be cute, and these things definitely weren’t. >_<
Inside, we faced a ruined, irradiated city. It was a lot like the Poison Sun Ward, shrouded in green radiation and awash with fire. Warped things wandered through the realm, and overhead soared things that looked like a cross between a WWII bomber and some sort of reptile. They constantly dropped bombs on the blasted cityscape, endlessly furthering the destruction. Elisa and I both got some great pictures.
Making our way through the city wasn’t easy. T-Bone and Elisa had it fairly easy, being able to absorb the radiation like they could, and Pierre and Ray were tough enough to soak it up, but Adam and I were really suffering! On top of that, there were sheets of flame shooting up everywhere. If not for Elisa’s prophetic intuition, we would have had a lot more trouble navigating that hazard than we did. Yay Elisa! ^_^
Of course, our path to Pika Don wasn’t clear. First we had to fight more of those spider things and a couple of corrupted celestial dogs. We finished them off with our usual finesse and brutality. And by the way, Adam’s sanctification of our band is already having a big impact. Being able to draw strength from each other is a huge advantage for us and makes my role as group cheerleader even more effective! ^_^ Yay Adam!
Anyway, after dealing with those guys and almost being bombed by one of the weird reptile-planes, we were attacked by five glimmermen (you know, the irradiated skeletal giants we ran across in the Poison Sun Ward). And while we were fighting them, several slick black shadow things ambushed our shadows. Glowing with my own light was the last thing I thought would have been useful in that place, but it would have eliminated my shadow and made it impossible for the shadows to attack me. I guess I should have listened to Miyako’s warnings…
Anyway, the others dealt with our assailants pretty handily. T-Bone, Elisa, and Adam were actually immune to their attacks, thanks to either the gyuki blood or their ability to absorb light (and therefore cast no shadow). And Ray could soak up most, if not all, of what they threw at him. But Pierre and I got hit hard. Yeah, even Pierre. By the time the fight was over, he was seriously hurting! He actually got it worse than I did. I’ve never seen him hurt so badly, or pout so sincerely! >_< But unlike the rest of us, he proved he could take it and keep trucking with an 8-ton bomb on his back! Yay Pierre!
By the time I could even respond to the fact we were being attacked, one of the shadows had already forced me to shed my corpse-double and another was in my shadow, burning me through my own darkness and doing a damn good job of it. So I sank into the earth, which got rid of my shadow and kept me safe so that I could heal up a bit.
Anyway, once we’d dispatched those foes we were able to make our way almost to the center of the city, where we had to cross a bridge on which stood two warriors dressed as samurai. They didn’t seem to be titanspawn. In fact, I got the impression they were honorable servants of the Amatsukami, placed there to keep the unwary away from Pika Don lest they do more harm than good (or try to return his eyes without following up with a ghost nuke, for instance). But they were able to match us on any front. They had Pierre’s fortitude, Ray’s strength and speed, my strength of personality and presence, Elisa’s keen eyes, T-Bone’s guile, and Adam’s brains. Scary, huh? Even so, we outnumbered them more than two to one, so even though it was a tricky fight for us, we were able to beat them. Well, Ray, Adam, Elisa, and T-Bone were able to defeat them. We didn’t kill them; they were just doing their job. And on the way out Ray even rescued them from the destruction of Pika Don’s realm. Yay Ray!
Having passed the final guardians, we faced Pika Don. We’d been staring at him the entire time we were in his realm. I mean, he looked like a sickly green sun with pits of darkness for eyes. But we finally found ourselves right before him. And so we enacted our plan. First, Elisa tossed one eye to Pika Don so that he could absorb it and see that we had the other. Then Ray threw the other to the far side of the realm. While Pika Don was playing fetch, we fled back to the realm’s exit, dodging radioactive fire and bombs as we went. And Pika Don unleashed his fury on us. Nuclear explosions and waves of nuclear fire threatened to destroy us, but that’s why we had the Orb of Chaos. Channeling his own mastery of chaos, T-Bone use the Orb to nullify all of Pika Don’s attacks. Yay T-Bone!
The confluence of chaos was so great (and T-Bone’s exultation so complete!) that the Orb even opened up its own eye, staring at T-Bone the whole time until the danger had passed. Creepy, huh? Whose eye is that, anyway? Or does it even belong to some other entity?
Anyway, aside from a few more shadows and spiders, we reached the exit without trouble, and then Ray tossed the bomb at Pika Don. We cleared the realm’s gate and Adam sealed the entrance again just as the initial flash of the purified nuke went off, destroying Pika Don forever. At least, I hope so.
And that was that. We did it!
The quest that had consumed us for the last several days was over, and after all around congratulations and a bit of a private celebration, we parted ways. Most headed back to America. T-Bone kept the Orb, and I don’t know what he’s going to do with it. I’m a little worried about that…but I trust that T-Bone can handle it. ^_^ Ray and I went first to the Shrine of Ise to present Miko to Amaterasu. It felt good to return Miko to her goddess in her purified state. And it felt good to see and interact with Miko the way she should be instead of the way she was. She’s always been devoted to me, but now I can accept that devotion wholeheartedly. She returned to America with me, of course, and is currently staying in my house on Red Mountain until the shrine-home I’m building her in the gardens is finished.
Amaterasu was grateful for what we did, but she had a little trouble acknowledging it. The whole situation hearkens back to some of Japan’s darkest hours, and you know how the Amatsukami can be. However, she agreed to speak to Izanagi on behalf of Keiko and Oda, and by the time I got back to Boston, I’d gotten his blessings on their marriage! That done, Keiko and Oda are planning to marry in a couple of months. It’s been a long time coming, and I know Keiko deserves a bit of happiness for a change, especially since she’s been thrown off balance by the fact that her dear friend Miko barely remembers her anymore (their friendship was born when Miko was a shikome, and Miko’s memories of that time are pretty sparse and confused).
I also guilt-tripped Amaterasu into coming to visit me on Red Mountain so that she could meet my adorable daughter! ^_^
After Ise, Ray and I traveled to Hokkaido to return the Ainu relics to their proper owners. It was a sad memorial to the fallen gods, but the Ainu faithful were glad to have the relics back, and in return gave us other relics, including two beautiful earrings that grant dominion over ice and cold (I think Ray and Adam took those) and a bracelet that grants accesses to the powers of sunlight and illusion.
With that done, we headed back to America for some well-earned rest! And I gotta say, it was nice to get back to my wife and to be able to hold Rose again. I missed her so much!
I just hope my mother isn’t too angry about Miko, but I fear the worst.